


your heart will melt (like ice cream)

by indigo night (laehys)



Series: the sweetest thing [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Carnival, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laehys/pseuds/indigo%20night
Summary: In which you have the first words your soulmate will say to you somewhere on your body and Renjun is sure that fate is messing with him by giving him marks with just a "hey".
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: the sweetest thing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880944
Comments: 12
Kudos: 387





	your heart will melt (like ice cream)

It’s not like Renjun hated fun and going out — it’s just that he hated cramped places filled with overpriced things and whiny kids screaming at the top of their lungs.

And yet, there he was once again. Standing in front of one of the carnival rides, while accompanying his best friend Donghyuck who insisted on saying “ _I can fucking feel it, Renjun. Believe me, today is the day I’ll meet them. Mark my words, bitch_ ” every day they had free time and weren’t dying because of homework.

The thing is: Donghyuck had a unique soulmate tattoo — unique enough to drag him almost every weekend to that fucking ride in hope of stumbling with the person that destiny had chosen for him. It was there, marked clearly enough on his forearm, a question about how long he had been standing on the line. And that’s how Donghyuck chose to spend his weekends: standing next to the ride, glaring at every passing person and trying to catch a glance at their marks; while Renjun, as his best friend and not having anything else better to do, would most of the time tag along and mock him endlessly.

Differently from Donghyuck, Renjun couldn’t do shit. Not only he had been blessed with the most unique “ _hey_ ” on his right wrist and a “ _hey_ ” on his left one, but he also had more than one soulmate—which only meant double the trouble of trying to finding them. He could only depend on his soulmates having a unique tattoo or they’d probably never identify each other.

(Renjun wouldn’t be too surprised if they also had a “ _hey_ ” and they had crossed paths seven years ago in the school hallway, never finding out about each other existence. It would be very on brand for him, at least.)

Still. There he was.

It was in the middle of the afternoon, sun shining brightly upon them and Renjun was positively melting away. Donghyuck seemed unfazed, protected by an old cap and an unblended strip of sunscreen on his nose; but Renjun had wiped away the sweat from his brow three times in the last two seconds, and he was ready to just get down on the floor and be one with the ground.

“Did you catch what was the mark of that girl?” Donghyuck asked, pointing at a girl who had walked past them, arms around her friends.

“No. But it’s not like you even talked with her to be sure,” Renjun replied, boredom lacing every word.

“Dumbass. Wanted to see if it was something I’d probably say or else.”

Renjun rolled his eyes but chose to stay quiet. It was one of the things they’d most fight about: Donghyuck would choose the people he talked with by reading their marks when he was able to, while Renjun complained that you couldn’t predict what you might end up saying, so _just suck it up and talk with them, oh my god, Donghyuck._

Feeling defeated by the heat and tired of standing around doing nothing, Renjun excused himself to go buy something cold, receiving a crumpled note from Donghyuck and an order to bring back a “small vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, okay?”.

The food section was always a mess, but it was even more than normal. Long lines under the sun made the ice cream vendors extremely popular and Renjun hated that every single person seemed to have had the same idea as him. But the promise of the cold treat made him stay, even with a toddler screaming next to his ear and a group of young boys stumbling through the line, pushing him and almost making him trip.

God. He couldn’t wait for the end of the world to arrive.

Fishing his wallet out from his pocket, he pulled the notes out and mentally confirmed his order, straightening the crumpled note from Donghyuck.

“Hey! Hey! You can’t be doing that! _Hey_!”

A scream sounded from further ahead. Renjun snapped his head up to see the employee sticking a paper with “ _Sorry! We are closed_!” on their menu. A tall man with a child on his shoulders was screaming and violently pointing a finger at the employee who seemed entirely too bored to even be fazed by the situation.

The scream of the man caught the attention of the people around them and the line that Renjun was standing in dissipated; parents grabbed their children’s hands and pulled them close to the cashier while other parents started to yell with the poor employee. Renjun was soon standing behind a screaming commotion of a dozen infuriated parents. It felt like being back at a high school game.

“Hey, what’s happening here?” A voice asked from behind him and before Renjun could turn around, another voice replied.

People were gathering around to watch how the tumult would unfold. Renjun only wanted to get his ice cream. He pocketed the notes, feeling like he wouldn’t be getting it any time soon, dread filling his stomach with the possibility of having to get in another line and wait another thousand years under the scorching sun.

“Hey,” someone said, tapping his shoulder. Renjun turned around to see a boy holding a blue ice cream, some of it dripping over the cone because of the heat. Renjun suddenly felt mad that the guy had managed to grab the treat and was obviously enjoying it. “What’s going on?”

Renjun snorted and pointed at the front of the line with his head. The employee had given up pointing at the sign and was just on his phone, seemingly unfazed by the parents’ shouting. “Some guy lost his mind over ice cream. Now it seems like every parent that was here has been recruited and is joining them in the screaming.”

The guy gasped loudly, his eyes widening. Renjun frowned but didn’t comment. Sure, it was kind of funny and maybe a little weird how fucking ridiculous all these parents were being, but he didn’t think it had been _that_ kind of impressive to gather such a reaction from the guy.

He was still staring at Renjun, mouth slightly open and ice cream dripping over the cone and getting on his hand. He didn’t seem to have noticed it.

“Your ice cream is melting,” Renjun pointed and turned his head to the front, trying to see if the sign was still there and they really weren’t just waiting to restock and open again soon. He sighed.

“Jaemin! Jaemin! Quick!” The guy screamed, body turned to the side and searching for someone in the crowd of people.

Yeah. _Definitely_ a little weird to be having so much fun with screaming parents that you needed to call someone with that tone to also watch. But Renjun tried not to judge _too much_.

The guy faced Renjun again, ice cream still dripping over. Renjun was mad for the ice cream. If it was him, he would’ve been enjoying and not wasting it.

“What?” Renjun snapped, looking at the guy who at least had the decency of avoiding his gaze. Red started to fill his face and Renjun felt a little bad for making him feel ashamed and snapping like that. “Your ice cream is still melting,” he said, the tone just a little less prickly.

The boy finally sprang up to action, licking the cone and moaning sadly, hand already kind of blue and sticky. The ice cream continued to mercilessly drip to the floor. “Oh no,” he whined lowly.

A tall, lanky guy arrived next to the one sadly licking his ice cream. “What’s up?” he said and laughed while pointing at the melted ice cream. “Fuckin’ hell, Jen. What a mess.” On his hand, he had a big bowl with green ice cream and too many sprinkles. It was still emanating a cold smoke and Renjun couldn’t help but salivate at seeing it, briefly wondering if the guy would sell it to him so he didn’t have to get in another line.

The newly arrived guy seemed to have caught Renjun’s gaze on his ice cream, for he said, “Hey—Jen, _no—_ ”

The Jen guy moaned as his ice cream cone fell to the floor. Renjun silently mourned that awful loss. The boy then snapped his head up and caught his friend’s shoulder, pushing him towards Renjun, “Quick—say something—”

Renjun stepped back as the lanky guy whined, “Don’t touch me—my clothes are new—your hands are all dirty—”

“Jaemin, quick! It’s him, it’s _him!_ ”

That seemed to get his attention, for the Jaemin guy widened his eyes in surprise and stared at Renjun. “Y-you?” he said and then ran his free hand through his hair. “Oh, shit. I fucked up, Jeno.”

Renjun felt a heavy feeling on the bottom of his stomach, blood pumping hotly through his body. He hated not knowing what was happening, especially when it involved him. “What the _fuck_ are you both trying to _do_?”

The only answer he got was the lanky guy getting closer to him, pulling the neckline of his shirt down and Renjun stepped back, screaming “Wait, wait! What even—” and then stopped when he saw the words under the boy’s collarbone. _What the fuck are you both trying to do_.

Oh. _Oh_. Renjun felt his mouth dry, struggling to swallow and his knees feeling weak. “Oh,” he croaked, looking in the direction of the Jen guy. Jaemin was smiling smugly. “You too?” he asked weakly. His heart was beating _too_ fast and his face was _too_ warm. Renjun hoped he wasn’t getting some kind of heatstroke now.

 _Some guy lost his mind over ice cream_ was written on the forearm of the guy who had lost his ice cream. His eyes were crinkling, and he had a closed-mouth smile on his face.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” Renjun said, gloating at the thought of going back to Donghyuck and rub in his face what had just happened. He’d probably be livid for still not having found his soulmate while Renjun had basically bumped into both of his at the same time. “But god—really, you both had to just say _hey_? It’s been a fucking nightmare, _everyone_ just says ‘hey’ all the time.”

Jeno averted his eyes and seemed to be slightly ashamed, cheeks going pink; by his side, Jaemin ate a spoonful of his green ice cream, eyes raking up and down on Renjun’s form, smirking around the spoon on his mouth, one eyebrow raised. And Renjun knew—he just knew that these two boys would be the death of him.

**Author's Note:**

> idek i found this buried on my drafts and here we are  
> stream ridin' and stay safe <333
> 
> find me on [twt](https://twitter.com/pinkhrj) | [ccat](https://curiouscat.me/rensungie) <3


End file.
